Boulder-based Avery Brewing Co. bought a 5.6-acre property in Gunbarrel that will serve as the home for its new brewery and headquarters, officials for the local craft brewery announced Thursday night.

Father-and-son Larry and Adam Avery, who established the brewery in 1993, closed on the land at 4910 Nautilus Court, just northwest of Twin Lakes. Financial details of the purchase were not immediately available through Boulder County property records.

Joe Osborne, marketing director for Avery Brewing, said Larry and Adam Avery paid $1.525 million for the land.

Earlier this year, Avery Brewing received the city of Boulder's approval for the $27 million project to build a 95,922-square-foot brewery, restaurant, gift shop and tap room.

The land acquisition puts Avery Brewing another step closer to opening a facility that would solve capacity woes that have hindered the craft brewer's ability to expand distribution and respond to increases in demand, officials say.

"We have some time to go before calling the movers, but after nearly 20 years of brewing in our mish-mash of nonadjacent warehouses and trailers, it feels awesome to get to this point," Adam Avery said in a statement.

The construction of a road into the north side of the property is expected to begin in late-February or early March with groundbreaking to occur on the brewery site in May, he said.

The brewery is expected to open in 2014.

A bullish craft beer industry and strong demand for Avery Brewery's beer resulted in the brewer hitting the ceiling at its current operations that span about 10 units in the warehouses surrounding its facility at 5763 Arapahoe Ave., in east Boulder.

To gain a better handle on the explosive growth, Avery Brewing pulled out of some markets in recent years and limited its distribution. This week, Avery Brewing halted sales to Minnesota.

Avery Brewing's production team recently undertook some "creative" measures -- through the purchase of new equipment and the incorporation of new processes -- to up the production capacity at 5763 Arapahoe to 65,000 barrels from 55,000 barrels.

"We're already brewing at a 24-7 clip," said Joe Osborne, Avery Brewing's marketing director. "To hit (65,000), it would be 24-7, day-in, day-out. And just because of reality, that just won't happen."

The increased capabilities and potential room for expansion would be welcome to Avery Brewing, which is at "utter capacity," Osborne said.

The new facility initially will have a 120-barrel brewhouse that should have an immediate 120,000-barrels-per-year production capacity. The brewery's design will allow for tanks to be added as needed, bringing the potential annual production capacity to 350,000 barrels, Osborne said.

Avery Brewing also would be able to re-enter markets and states it has been forced to abandon in recent years, he said.

The brewery's 80-person workforce also is expected to grow by at least 25 percent when the new facility opens, Osborne said.

Avery Brewing originally eyed opening the new facility before the Great American Beer Festival in October of next year; however, the timing was delayed as officials obtained the necessary financial resources to move forward on the $27 million-to-$30 million project, he said.

Larry and Adam Avery secured a Small Business Administration loan in addition to capital from their family and the brewery's operations, Osborne said. They did not take in any outside investment, he added.

"It's been a long journey," he said. " ... The huge goal is to keep it in the family."

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